Los Angeles history

Governor Urged to Revive Crime Commission; A Dodger Retires

County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn calls on Gov. Pat Brown to reactivate the state crime commission after reports of organized crime in California, while Mickey Cohen calls the whole matter a joke.

"It's ridiculous. These false statements that I have killed a whole lot of people is bad. I have to go to trial again in federal court Friday. How can I get a fair, unbiased trial when such reports are prejudicing the public against me?" Cohen says.

A typical Times editorial cartoon of the 1950s, before the advent of Paul Conrad.

Cohen also disputes allegations that Jimmy "The Weasel" Fratianno is a Mafia executioner. "He doesn't have the ability nor is he the type of person to carry out what the committee says he did," Cohen says.

Mrs. Heliodor Cyr shows off her 27th child.

I rarely run The Times' old editorials because they are embarrassing (The U.S. doesn't need a federal anti-lynching law ... We shouldn't accept Jewish refugees, etc.). This one is especially noteworthy: Diplomatic recognition of Red China would be morally wrong.

At left,a little fraternity prank at San Diego State involving George Roach.

Liberace wins his libel suit against the London Daily Mirror.

Right now, the U.S. is putting mice in space, but in 10 years, we may send men to the moon -- maybe. Rod Steiger in "Al Capone."

Brew 102 is made with the finest ingredients but only costs $1.09 per six-pack. That's $7.96 is 2008 dollars.

Above, a TV show consisting entirely of commercials. Obviously KTTV Channel 11 was ahead of its time.

One of the Boys of Summer retired and The Times reacted as if the paper published in Brooklyn.

Pitcher Carl Erskine called it a career after 122 victories. He started with the Dodgers in 1948 and his best season was 1953 when he went 20-6. But Los Angeles sportswriters clearly would miss his character more than his arm.

Sports editor Paul Zimmerman credited Erskine for his "work with youth, his Sunday school teaching, his exemplary conduct on and off the field."

Frank Finch said he was "the finest gentleman it has been our good fortune to meet in 30 years of sports writing. To say that Oisk is a credit to the game is damning him with faint praise. He is more than that; he is a credit to the human race."

That might say a lot about Erskine or something about the other people Finch ran into all those years.

The Times--OK, Finch--seemed to get rather nostalgic about an end of an era.

"First it was Preacher Roe who hung up his glove, then Billy Cox, then Jackie Robinson, then Roy Campanella, then Pee Wee Reese and now Carl Erskine has called it quits. Who's next?" Finch wrote.

No doubt, the Brooklyn Dodgers had a great run but only the final two players listed spent any time in Los Angeles. And wasn't the Dodgers' first season disappointing in large part because many of the old regulars were still around?

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The Dodgers swept the Braves, 10-2 and 4-0, to move closer to the top of the National League standings. Sandy Koufax and Danny McDevitt, described as the Dodgers' "youngish southpaws," pitched back-to-back gems. And Jim Gilliam started the first game with a home run over the short screen in left field against Milwaukee's ace Warren Spahn.